


Biking Lessons

by molegria



Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Dorkiness, F/M, Fluff, Kristanna Week 2018, Romantic Comedy, Teaching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 07:33:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16572341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/molegria/pseuds/molegria
Summary: "This is not gonna work.""Why not?""It's too small. I'm too big. This is going to hurt.""Kristoff, the only way it's going to hurt is if you fall." Anna rolls her eyes, patting the bicycle seat. "Come on, I lifted the seat for you."





	Biking Lessons

"This is not gonna work."

 

"Why not?"

 

"It's too small. I'm too big. This is going to hurt."

 

"Kristoff, the only way it's going to hurt is if you _fall_." Anna rolls her eyes, patting the bicycle seat. "Come on, I lifted the seat for you."

 

Kristoff sighs.  It's not just a matter of seat height - Anna's bike is too small for him as a _whole_ , a fragile contraption of tires, chains and dangerous-looking metal bars. That morning, when he'd told her he couldn't ride a bike, he hadn't expected her to act so shocked. Apparently, she'd thought biking was something of an innate trait for everyone. She probably never considered most people - especially orphaned kids - had simply no money to buy a bike. Animals, carriages and carts were necessary for work; bikes were for leisure, and therefore a luxury. One she is convinced Kristoff needs in his life, despite his protests that he's been doing just fine without it. "We'll get you a proper bike once you get the gist of it," she promised, after dragging him and her battered, Anna-sized bike to the castle's courtyard.

 

Kristoff shakes his head and looks at Anna disapprovingly, but sits (rather, perches) on the bike anyway. This has been his life ever since he met her: even against his better judgment, he always ends up granting her every wish.

 

His reward is a wide smile and a peck on the cheek. "See? Didn't hurt," she chirps.

 

"So far," he grumbles, trying to position himself on the seat so that it won't burst his tender parts.

 

"For our first lesson, we are going to start with something very simple." She stands beside him and adjust his hands on the handle bar, her other hand resting on his lower back. "Relax, I promise it's really easy. For now, I just want you to keep both feet on the ground - yes, spread them a bit - and you're going to push the bike forward, just like walking. Ok?"

 

He takes a few awkward steps. The pedals clip his ankles for the first few rounds, but his legs are way too long for such a small bike, so he doesn't take long to adjust to them.

 

"Good start," Anna says. "The next step is, we'll continue to do that, but I want you to gradually take your feet off the floor. I want you to try and find your balance on the bike, so you'll take a few steps, give it a bit of a push, and then lift your feet."

 

He gives it a try: a few steps, a push, then lifting his feet. The bike drifts ahead for a few meters, then starts to tilt to the left. He pushes his feet back on the ground. "Like this?" He looks back at her.

 

"Yes, you're doing pretty well!" She comes back to his side. "Let's do a few rounds of this - go to that pole over there, then back to the kitchen doors. Once you're feeling more confident we'll raise the stakes," she says, pretty convinced that he _will_ feel more confident at some point.

 

He lets out another long-suffering sigh. Step, step, push, drift; step, step, push, drift. Well, it can't be that difficult, after all. If a kid can learn how to ride a bike, it's not like he can't. He does several things that are a lot more dangerous and physically demanding. He's climbed steep cliffs (step, step, push, drift). He's fallen on freezing water more than once (step, step, push, drift). Hell, he cuts ice for a living.

 

He turns the bike back around towards the castle and repeats the drill. Anna is grinning and giving him thumbs-ups. "So far, so goo _woah_ ," he stumbles. Distracted with her smile, he'd let the front of the bike turn to the side, and had to brake with his feet.

 

Anna runs to his side. "It's ok, you just have--"

 

"Head up, not down!" They both look up. Elsa is waving at them from the window to her office. "Keep looking ahead," she shouts, "the ground's not going anywhere."

 

"Great, now we have an audience," Kristoff mumbles.

 

"And a meddling one," Anna rolls her eyes, speaking quietly. "But she's right - you need to keep your head high, or else you'll lose your balance and the bike will turn." Then, turning to Elsa and waving her away, screaming: "He knows that already!"

 

"Can _she_ ride a bike?"

 

"She taught me," Anna rolls her eyes again. It wouldn't be beyond Elsa to try to boss them on something she doesn't even know, but that doesn't seem to be the case this time. "Anyway, when you're--"

 

" _Engage your core!_ "

 

"Go back to work!," Anna screams back at Elsa, who laughs, shakes her head and closes the curtains. Then, turning back to Kristoff: "Yeah, do that."

 

"Look ahead, engage my core," he nods, adjusting his posture.

 

"And don't grip the handles like your life depended on it," she adds, caressing his forearm to coax him to let go. "Anyway, I think we're ready to try pedaling now."

 

Kristoff takes a deep breath. "May all the Gods watch over us," he laughs.

 

"You'll be fine, I'll be right behind you," she says. "I'll be holding you until you're steady. Don't try to go too slow, because it's easier to keep your balance if you catch a bit of speed, but don't go too crazy either. Remember, you can always put your feet down."

 

"I'll try to remember that."

 

"Now, let me show you how to take the first step." She gestures at him to dismount and sits on the bike. "You want the pedal to be at the top, see? Not completely at the top, because then you'll have to place your feet at an awkward angle, but high enough that it will give you impulse on your first push. Like this..." She pedals ahead for a few meters then turns back, gliding around him effortlessly and stopping by his side again. It feels like second nature to her, like she's dancing on top of the two wheels. "Ready?"

 

He doesn't think he'll ever be ready, but she'd be so disappointed if he gave up now, he can only sit back on the bicycle and give her a forced grin.

 

She stands behind him, resting a hand on his waist and holding the back of the bike with the other. He adjusts the pedal as she instructed and makes his first tentative moves, managing to keep going for about three cycles before planting his feet on the ground.

 

"Sorry, lost my balance a bit," he mutters.

 

"Yeah, it happens. You're just starting. Try again?"

 

Kristoff nods and does so. The front of the bike keeps going left and right, however, and he stops again.

 

"I can't keep it straight," he groans, frustrated.

 

"Yeah, so, here's the thing... you kinda won't." He lifts an eyebrow at her. She raises her hands to placate him. "It's kind of like... if you get too worried about trying to keep the front straight, your arms will be tense - as they are - and you won't be able to keep your balance. Your goal is not to keep it 100% straight 100% of the time, you just... you touch it a little back and forth, just to..."

 

"Course correct," he suggests.

 

"Yes! You're just course correcting, like, constantly. You don't hold the bar with an iron grip, you just direct it and it'll go its merry way."

 

"Hopefully."

 

"It will," Anna nods, confident. "Another go. You're almost getting it."

 

They bring the bike all the way back to the kitchen doors, then point it to the patience pole on the other side of the courtyard. The ground slopes very gently downwards, and is mostly smooth, except for a few bumps here and there. Even the slight breeze is in his favor now. He turns back to look at Anna's encouraging smile, adjusts the front pedal, takes a deep breath, and goes.

 

The bike still tries to move here and there, but he does his best not to panic this time. _Look ahead, engage your core_ , he chants internally, fingers flexing on the handle bar. "Keep going," Anna whispers from behind him, pushing the bike; she's running to keep up with him now, as his own legs turn faster on the pedals. "Keep going, keep going!" He feels her hand leave his side, the bike feels lighter under him, the wind blowing on his face, such a feeling of freedom...

 

And then the front wheel hits one of those bumps in the cobblestones, turns abruptly to the right, he loses control, and ends up braking not with his foot, but with his knee.

 

He lowers himself down with the bike, pulls his other leg over it and sits down on the ground, wincing. Anna is by his side in a second. "Whoa! Are you ok?"

 

"Told you it was gonna hurt," he cringes, but he's smiling too.

 

She moves the bike away and crouches beside him, taking a look at his leg. The fabric of his pants was torn over the knee, and there is a bit of blood. It's far from the worst injury either of them has ever suffered, but still. "Ouchie," she hisses.

 

"Yeah, ouchie," he crunches his nose at her.

 

"But you were doing so well!" She moves closer to him on her knees, covering his face with kisses. "You did it! You were biking all by yourself there!"

 

"I was, wasn't I?" He stretches the injured leg, checking for any other damages. His crotch isn't too happy with the small seat, and his wounded honor will take longer to heal than his knee, but otherwise he is fine.

 

"You know," Anna gives him one more kiss, this time on the lips. "I think that was fine for your first day. Class dismissed," she smiles, going for his lips again.

 

He leans back, however. "What, now that I'm getting the hang of it?" He smirks, getting up and placing the bike upright. "I think you're scared that I'm going to be better at it than you."

 

"Really?" She grabs the front of his shirt. "As soon as _your_  bike arrives, I'm teaching you another lesson, Mr. Bjorgman." She pulls him down into a deep, wet kiss, slaps his behind, then jumps on the bike and rides away from him, laughing to her heart's content.

 

He could learn a new lesson from her every single day, Kristoff decides.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was vaguely inspired on my own attempt to learn how to ride a bike as an adult. Spoiler: unlike Kristoff, I'm a quitter and didn't do it in a day. I still plan on getting back to it eventually, though!


End file.
